Introduction
We as people have different inherent and self-developed traits that we use in our
social and work related interactions.
One such soft skill is body language. To be successful and influential, we need to learn
to use or even improve our use of body language and necessary etiquette.
Various aspects of body language such as personal appearance, facial expression, eye
contact, open and friendly countenance, posture, gesture and use of personal space,
all can make a difference in our influence and impact in social and work related
interactions and experiences.
Body Language communicates confidence, interest, enthusiasm, attitude (such as
frankness, seriousness and sincerity) and social skills in a meeting. This skill is also
Important when we don the role of decision – makers seeking to develop a business or
find right solutions for a corporate/organization.
Etiquette in work places or social gatherings can help us leave a positive impact and
thereon achieve our goals.
Today we need to practice new social norms like hand hygiene, social distancing, covering our noses / mouths with masks, does all this change our confidence, interest, enthusiasm, attitude?
Non-verbal role
Unknowingly we exhibit different roles via our body language and ensuing
active or passive interaction. These roles can be categorized into being
1.An unbiased or biased evaluator
2.A critique or appreciator
3.A motivator or de-motivator
4.A confidence builder or being demeaning
5.An interested or disinterested listener
6.A connected listener or seemingly disconnected
7.A positive role player or distracter or one who makes you self-conscious
8.A friend or unfriendly entity
9.Open-minded or being judgmental
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As average individuals factors 7, 8 and 9 are important for most of us. For people to
like us it is important to seem friendly and open-minded in our interactions. With the
health crisis in 2020, what is most important is to be friendly and open-minded about
social norms and social distancing that different people may expect from us,
Friendly body language
Friendly or open-minded body language does mean that we need to exhibit certain
characteristics in our facial expressions, our posture, our gestures, our eye contact or
our intent to appreciate good qualities.
a. Facial expression and eye contact
To seem friendly one must smile whenever relevant and not show dislike on our faces
even when one does not like something. One must remain balanced in our eye contact
and not seem demeaning or prying. It is true that many can read warmth and
friendliness by looking into another’s eyes.
b. Positive or active listening
To be a friend, one must always be approachable, actively listen to show appreciation
or even positive disagreement. We sometimes must only listen without showing
visible dislike or disinterest.
c. Dressing to the occasion
To be friendly or to seem connected & concerned, one must also dress to the occasion
that is in the event of a formal meeting, informal get together, celebration, death, loss
etc
d. Posture and gesture
To be friendly or warm, one must sit in a straight, open-to-interact or less
overpowering manner. One must shake hands when appropriate, pat the other’s
back, or nod or even raise one’s eyebrows to show appreciation.
One must not use one’s hands inappropriately or show anger via one’s hands or eye
contact.
e. Use of personal space
To seem friendly one must understand and respect the personal space of the other
people in question. One must not extend one’s hands nor stretch one’s legs so as to
reduce the space available to others.
One must also not bend down without prior intimation or look up in a manner that
is inappropriate to the other depending upon their posture or dressing style.
f. A new periodic function that can make a difference
With the health threat in 2020, we cannot practice some of the earlier body
language influencers, so it becomes important to decide the periodic nature
of one's interactions.
f.1 If we are to meet people for the first time
In case we are to meet people for the first time, we must first seek
permission to practice certain body language norms.
If we are not sure, then we must explain our norms to the people
we are meeting and always mention that we are amidst change.
As the influencer of Facial expression and eye contact may not
be as before, we must express ourselves in a friendly and interactive
manner. If we could win people with our smiles before, today, we need to
win them over by trying to understand what is their smiley frequency.
This means one must say things like "this makes me smile, makes me
understand, makes me want to express more etc". It is always important
to mention that "what the other person has said does bring a smile to
one's face".
It may be important to share a picture of yourself with
good facial expressions, to enable the eye contact factor to work despite
social norms like masks, transformations that make it difficult to
make meetings and social interactions truly realizable.
f.2 If we meet people again and again
If we meet people we know frequently, then we need to
understand what makes machines likeable to us.
We like technology or machines if they serve our purpose,
but as humans the understanding is not to like people only
if they serve our purpose.
Amidst the social distancing norm, one may out of reason or
specifically focus on purpose of every interaction, leading to
non-likeability more than the social warmth that builds up
with each meeting.
To make each interaction purposeful, we must try to transform
interaction to open ended realizables. Conclusiveness should
not depend on the social norm but it should rely on the need to
understand the interaction and social support that emerges from
our interactions.
Our purpose should be to relate to what the person must be managing
to meet us or interact with us. We must accept mutual attitude (such as
frankness, seriousness and sincerity).
We must make a difference in whatever manner we can without forgetting
that healthy lifetimes are our tomorrows but the need of the hour is to
incorporate a new periodic to our body language and social suitability.
All said, the new threat will test the base of our inner metallurgy, where this
means do we have the elements (the smiley composition) that can reduce
loss of time for all what has happened.
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